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HomeMy Public PortalAboutStonyBrookRd_47, BRE.301Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.12/12 FORM B  BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Locus Map N Recorded by: Eric Dray, Preservation Consultant, for Organization: Brewster Historical Commission Date (month / year): June, 2017 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 6-22-0 Dennis BRE.C, G BRE.301 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): West Brewster Address: 47 Stony Brook Road Historic Name: Sears, Samuel R. and Susanna House Uses:Present: Residential Original: Residential Date of Construction: [1834-1850] Source:Deed research, Census records Style/Form: Greek Revival Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Unknown Wall/Trim: Wood shingles/ Wood Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: One-bay, side-gable garage (see Photo 4) Major Alterations (with dates): Rear ell addition (pre-1963) Replacement windows (date unknown) Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: Acreage: 0.96 acres Setting: This house is located southeast of the intersection with Route 6A/Main Street, and south of Quivett Creek. The immediate surrounding area has a rural character with 20th century houses set on large lots. This house is set on a rise above the street and, unusually, is set at an angle to Stony Brook Road. The land continues to rise up behind the house. The house is largely obscured from the street by deciduous shrubbery. An asphalt driveway leads to a garage east of the house. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 47 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 BRE.C, G BRE.301 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. This is a relatively intact example of a mid-19th century, Greek Revival-style house. It has a 1 ½-story, gable-front form that is set at an angle to the street. The foundation material is not visible from the street but was very likely brick originally. The elevations are clad in cedar shingles and have prominent corner pilasters. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles (likely cedar shingles originally) and has a projecting molded box cornice with partial returns across the gable ends and broad trim boards below. The roof cornice and pilasters are both character-defining features of the Greek Revival style. The off-centered front entrance is largely obscured from the street but appears to also be a characteristic Greek Revival-style surround with broad molded lintel above, and sidelights flanking the door. Fenestration appears to consist primarily of replacement 1/1 double-hung sash. Wood 6/6 double-hung sash would have been the original window configuration, and they can be seen in the cover photo of the 1980 version of this Building Form (see Photo 3). The house has an unusual multi-paned wood window in the front gable peak with a triangular element echoing the gable form of the roof. There is a large rear, stepped-down ell. Based on a review of the attached Assessor sketch and 2008 Assessor photo (see Photo 2), this ell appears to have been built in two stages. The first section of the ell may be original or early to the house, and the second part, if added later, was in place by 1963 (see footprint of house in attached 1963 Plan). A very broad shed dormer extends along the left (southwest) roof slope of the ell and is also incorporated into the main roof slope (see Photo 5). A large, corbelled brick chimney rises from the roof slop of this dormer. No chimneys survive on the main block. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. This house is located in West Brewster, on a road that was originally part of Old King’s Highway. Laid out in 1665, Old King’s Highway, also historically referred to as King’s Highway and County Road, was the region’s major east/west corridor. In Brewster, the original route followed Stony Brook Road, avoiding the wetlands and marshes associated with Quivett Creek and Stony Brook. By the mid-19th century, causeways and bridges were built across tidal and wetland areas allowing for the straightening of Old King’s Highway, including northwest of this house near the Dennis town border. Mill sites on Stony Brook became an important economic engine and led to early development in West Brewster, including extant residential resources from the 18th and 19th century along Stony Brook Road. The name “Stony Brook Road” was in use by the early-20th century. Noah Sears (1751-1835) assembled a large tract of land in Brewster between the marsh and the County Road in two purchases; in 1816 from Elisha Sears of Dennis (Book 999012/Page 208) and then adjoining land in 1830 from Hannah Sears and Abigail Remick of Brewster (Book 7/Page 68). The 1816 transaction referenced buildings and the 1830 transaction referenced cleared land. The style and form of this house would make it highly unlikely that any buildings referenced in the 1816 transaction refer to this house. Noah Sears was a farmer and he married Desire Morrill in 1794. They had one son who survived to adulthood, Samuel R. Sears (1810-1881). While it is possible that Noah built this house late in his life, it seems more likely that it was built by his son, Samuel, sometime between 1834 and 1850. Samuel married Susanna Hall in 1834. If Samuel built this house, it would likely have been built following their marriage. The house is shown on the 1858 Map of Cape Cod with the name “S.R. Sears” (see attached detail of the 1858 Map), and the 1850 US Census lists Samuel and Susanna Sears with neighbors also shown on the 1858 Map. This would suggest that the house was in place by 1850. The year-built time frame (1834-1850) is consistent with the period during which gable-front, Greek Revival-style houses were popular. There were multiple Sears families in the vicinity, in both Brewster and Dennis. A Sears family cemetery is located south of Route 6A/Main Street near the Dennis town border, but Samuel and Susanna Sears were buried in a cemetery in Quivett Neck in Dennis where Samuel’s father, Noah, had also purchased land. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 47 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 BRE.C, G BRE.301 Like his father, Samuel R. Sears worked as a farmer. They had a daughter, Sarah H. Sears (b. 1848 who married John W. Robbins (b. ca. 1847) and they lived with her parents. The house passed to Sarah and John Robbins. John worked as a fisherman (1880 US Census) and as a teamster (1900 US Census). They had one son, Samuel J. Robbins. Sarah Robbins died in 1885, and John remarried in 1896 to Mary B. Covel. In 1920, John and Mary Robbins, living in Dennis, and John’s son, Samuel, who was living in Brooklyn, NY, sold the property to Marvin and Edith B. Sprague of Wellesley, MA (Book 375/Page 208). This deed referenced “a Dwelling House, Barn and all other buildings standing thereon.” Marvin Sprague (1862-1934) married Edith Batchelor (1868-1942) in 1889 and they had two daughters, Priscilla and Sarah. Marvin Sprague worked as a trust officer. In 1921, the Spragues registered the land, shown as Lots A and B on Land Court Plan 7760-B (see attached). In 1930, they recorded a subdivision of Lot B (see attached Land Court Plan 7760-C) and they conveyed Lot B1 (a parcel that included this house) to Olive H. Hasbrouck of Cambridge (Cert. of Title 2207). The Spragues continued to own the adjacent parcels until the 1940s. Olive was born Olive Scott Halladay in Chestnut Hills, MA in 1875. She married Raymond De Lancey Hasbrouck in 1902. Raymond Hasbrouck, born in Boise, ID in 1871, was an Annapolis graduate and naval officer. He was a commander of a transport vessel during WWI for which he was awarded the Naval Cross. He died in 1926, and Olive appears to have moved to Cambridge. According to the 1930 US Census, the year she bought this house, she was listed as a dormitory mistress at Radcliffe College. In 1941, Olive Hasbrouck conveyed Lot B1 to Helen Anderson Smith (Cert. of Title 6001). Helen Anderson was married to William Smith who was listed in the 1920 US Census in Boston as a proprietor of a restaurant. In 1956, Helen Anderson conveyed this parcel to Warren A. and Lucy T. Doe of Braintree (Cert. of Title 18837). In 1973, the Does recorded a subdivision of Lot B1 (see attached Land Court Plan 7760-G), and the house, now on its current-sized lot, was conveyed to Cyrus R. and Martha K. Currier of Brewster (Cert. of Title 31682). In 1979, the estate of Cyrus Currier conveyed this property to Barton M. and Louise C. MacQuaid of Billerica (Cert. of Title 79153). Barton MacQuaid’s estate, in turn, conveyed the property in 1988 to John P. and Monica J. Raynor of Brewster (Cert. of Title 113326). Finally, in 2006 John Raynor’s estate conveyed the property to its current owners, Nicholas Zappia and Elizabeth Vilardi of West Roxbury, MA (Cert. of Title 181773). This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District (adopted 1973). BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES 1858 Map, Map of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, & Nantucket, Walling, Henry. 1880 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: George H. Walker & Co., 1880. 1910 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: Walker Litho. & Publishing Co., 1910. Barnstable County Registry of Deeds Brewster Old King's Highway National Register Historic District Nomination, Candace Jenkins and Betsy Friedberg, 1995. www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1820, 1850, 1900, 1920, 1930), State Census (1855, 1865) www.huguenotstreet.org/raymond-delancey-hasbrouck-papers/ Brewster Assessor sketch. Photo 2. Assessor photo, looking northwest (2008). INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 47 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 BRE.C, G BRE.301 Photo 3. 1980 Building Form photo, looking northwest. Photo 4. View of garage, looking north. Photo 5. View looking northeast. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 47 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 4 BRE.C, G BRE.301 Detail of 1858 Map of Cape Cod (arrow added). Land Court Plan 7760-B, 1920. Land Court Plan 7760-C, 1930. Land Court Plan 7760-G, 1963 (arrow added).